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New Day

New Air Strikes Hit ISIS Oil Facilities In Syria; U.S. on Lookout for Lone Wolf Attacks; Suspect in Custody in Missing UVA Student Case

Aired September 25, 2014 - 06:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight, new air strikes on ISIS in Syria target the terror group's flow of money.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're very, very confident that we caused the kind of damage we wanted to cause.

CUOMO: Also new, Arab countries dropping more bombs than the U.S. and new allies prepare to join the fight.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Britain should now move to a new phase of action.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Britain calling back Parliament for a key vote to launch its out air strikes, as an ISIS off-shoot retaliates, beheading a French hostage.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: The only language understood by killers like this is the language of force.

BALDWIN: President Obama pressing world leaders, securing a new resolution to stop money and recruits from getting to the terror group.

CUOMO: A special edition of NEW DAY begins right now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: Good morning, welcome to NEW DAY this Thursday, September 25 th, 6:00 in the East. Kate's on maternity leave. Brooke Baldwin is not. Thank you for joining us here.

BALDWIN: You're welcome. Good morning.

CUOMO: We have big news for you. A new round of air strikes against ISIS in Syria.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

CUOMO (voice-over): The mission, bomb these oil facilities supplying ISIS' black market money flow, starving the group's rampage in Iraq and Syria. American and Arab forces hitting more than a dozen targets.

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CUOMO (on camera): And a major ally ramping up. Britain voting to join the air campaign amid breaking news overnight that British police arresting nine men suspected of terrorist offenses. There are reports they include a prominent radical cleric you may have seen on TV. We have every angle covered.

We are going to start with senior Washington correspondent, Joe Johns, with the latest on the air strikes. Good morning, Joe. What do we know?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Chris. Targeting the pocketbook, but with some unintended consequences, U.S. officials say they try to be very careful to avoid civilian casualties, but it's almost inevitable in a situation like this.

The latest count after air strikes in Eastern Syria, at least 14 militants killed along with five civilians in this offensive against ISIS is only beginning.

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JOHNS (voice-over): Overnight in Syria, another wave of air strikes targeting ISIS headquarters, a training camp, oil refineries and checkpoints in the Dair Ezzor Province. The attacks killing at least 14 militants and five civilians, including women and children, according to a rights monitor group.

The U.S.-led coalition aiming to degrade the brutal militant group's source of revenue. According to U.S. officials striking 12 oil facilities, seized by ISIS in Eastern Syria Wednesday. Bringing the total number of air strikes in the region to over 30.

REAR ADMIRAL JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: This is the beginning of a long effort. There will be more. There will be more.

JOHNS: U.S. officials estimate that ISIS makes upwards of $2 million a day by smuggling oil, refining it and producing 500 barrels a day and selling them on the black market. U.S. officials hope these air strikes in the remote countryside would lessen the risk of civilian casualties.

A concern raised after the initial air strikes fell upon densely populated areas like Raqqa and Idlib. An activist from Raqqa says the ISIS fighters began moving into civilian homes two weeks ago.

In Wednesday's strike, the U.S. flew only about half a dozen F-15 aircraft. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates flying more. Now Belgium and the Netherlands are expressing a commitment to join the U.S. and five Arab nations in the attack against ISIS.

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JOHNS: Now the U.S. has said its going after the ISIS pocketbook with the strikes, but there is some question whether these strikes against small crude modular oil refineries is actually accomplishing that because the refineries operate on such a small scale.

A market analyst has told CNN the real money for ISIS comes from taking crude oil directly out of the ground and smuggling it across the border into Turkey and Iraq.

The only way to stop is to bomb the oil fields, which could put them out of commission for years or target the trucks, which means they need better intelligence on the ground -- Chris.

CUOMO: And of course, Joe, the best way to stop it is to go after those who are buying it. That's why military only gets you so far. There are many other aspects of what needs to change in order to really squash this threat. But the bombings going on now, we'll see where that leads. Joe Johns, thank you very much for reporting this morning -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: President Obama will be back in the United Nations this morning. He is calling on more nations to join the 40-country coalition in the fight against ISIS.

Let me tell you that list is growing. British Prime Minister David Cameron talking tough, saying Britain will take part in these air strikes. Also breaking this morning, this terror sweep nabs nine suspects in London, reportedly among them this radical preacher by the name of Anjim Choudari.

White House correspondent, Michelle Kosinski, is following all of the diplomatic maneuvering force. Michelle, good morning.

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Brooke. With the world gathered at the U.N., deeply concerned about the threat of terrorism and what do we do about it, President Obama's goals have been to expand this coalition against ISIS. Get more commitments from countries and to pass a Security Council resolution to try to stop that flow of foreign fighters. So far, he's done it

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KOSINSKI (voice-over): President Obama chairing a U.N. Security Council meeting.

OBAMA: Resolutions alone will not be enough. We're going to have to translate words into deeds.

KOSINSKI: His resolution is try to staunch the flow of foreign terrorist fighters passed unanimously. While Belgium and the Netherlands joined the fight against ISIS, both likely to send war planes. The U.K. calling parliament back in session this Friday to vote. So it, too, can begin air strikes.

DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: What we are doing is legal. It's right.

KOSINSKI: At the same time, another video emerged showing the beheading of a hostage. A French hiker kidnapped by ISIS in Algeria. Another country, another region, affected. Members of the Arab coalition already battling ISIS from the air made the urgency clear. The king of Jordan.

KING ABDULLAH II BIN AL-HUSSEIN, JORDAN: It is not an Arab or Muslim fight any more. It affects every delegate here and beyond. It is the fight of our times.

KOSINSKI: But the strongest words hit what the president called the cancer of ISIS. Calling for action at the root of it.

OBAMA: No God condones this terror. No grievance justifies these actions. There can be no reasoning. No negotiation with this brand of evil. The only language understood by killers like this is the language of force.

It is time for the world, especially Muslim communities, to explicitly, forcefully and consistently reject the ideology of organizations like al Qaeda and ISIS. Today I ask the world to join in this effort.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOSINSKI: As always with something like a U.N. resolution, the question is, how do you realistically enforce it? President Obama emphasized that it is legally binding and it requires countries to actively prevent the recruiting, traveling and financing of terrorists and to share information -- Chris.

CUOMO: Catch, shame and often prosecute. That's really what works best there. This is the starting point. Michelle Kosinski, thank you very much.

What happened overnight? What does it mean in terms of the campaign against ISIS, this war? CNN military analyst, Retired Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona joins us. Thank you for being with us, sir. Thank you for always being here.

You'll have to start wearing CNN on your chest, but it's for good cause. Overnight, we're looking a lot of new dots on the ground. These are areas that were struck. The basic information, in the north and in the south of Syria, we're talking about oil refineries and production areas.

In the middle, what we're calling command and control, trucks and different types of infrastructure, the U.S. believes, the coalition believes is important to the movements and destructive capabilities of ISIS. What do you see specifically in this?

LT. COLONEL RICK FRANCONA (RETIRED), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: This is going after the oil infrastructure of Syria. All of Syria's oil fields are either to the north or to the south of the center of the dot. Deir Ezzor is kind of the center of the Syrian oil industry.

The targets for these mobile or kind of bolted-together, makeshift production facilities, the refineries, make good targets because they're out in the desert, minimum risk to civilian infrastructure and civilian casualties.

CUOMO: How effective are they, in terms of one can you hit them easily enough? And two, is that really getting at their oil trade?

FRANCONA: It takes away some of their trade they do on the black market. We hit the finance center in Raqqa on the first night. Now we're hitting the oil that feeds those, that finance center. They're easy targets to hit because they're out in the middle of a desert. You're using precision-guided munitions. So it's a good target and effectively hit by the Arab coalition.

CUOMO: And that's right. That's a part of the headlines this morning is that the Arabs are doing more of the bombing than the U.S. here. We'll have to see which way the coalition goes. Different branch of the story.

Look, we're just starting to hear about what happens when these bombs hit the ground, right. Admiral Kirby from the Pentagon came out and said we believe they've been successful. Civilians are going to die, the wrong places will be hit. How does that affect what you do with the air campaign?

FRANCONA: Well, the planning, you try and minimize civilian casualties as best can you. ISIS knows that and we are seeing the effect of this already. There's both media reporting and a lot of social media from inside Syria, showing these guys moving out of their headquarters, moving from concentrations of troops into civilian areas.

CUOMO: But had you to expect that. They are wearing masks to begin with.

FRANCONA: They had two weeks to do this. We announced we were going to be conducting air strikes in Syria and right after announcement, we saw the initial moves, the disbursement of their assets, moving their trucks.

Actually they went to the point of even parking their trucks further apart in their parking areas because rather than having one bomb take out three or four trucks, now you have to put a weapon on each truck, very expensive process.

CUOMO: When do you start killing ISIS members?

FRANCONA: We are already are. They went after a training camp the other day. On the first night, some of the video that was released by the Defense Department showed that one field where they put a variety of weapons, that was a training camp. Those were basically troops in the open.

CUOMO: When you target people, you wind up killing people, so the right people, the wrong people. And supporting what's happening on the ground.

FRANCONA: Ideally you would have a ground force that follows up. You would prepare the battlefield with air and follow up with a ground force.

CUOMO: The coalition is still soft there. FRANCONA: Well, we don't have anybody in Syria to do this. In Iraq, this will work and you see it starting to work. Because weeks ago we saw ISIS running down these valleys really on a rampage. And we announced the air strikes, the air strikes were able to blunt that.

So if you look at the lines as they were two weeks ago and the lines as they are today, we blunted that offensive. We've got to get the ground forces trained up and get them in there and start rolling these people back.

CUOMO: How effective was what we did to the Khorasan Group here near Aleppo that the U.S. did all by themselves? What do we know?

FRANCONA: That was primarily done with cruise missiles, tomahawks and it looked to be pretty effective. Although they're not releasing a whole lot of details. They said that they achieved their desired goal

CUOMO: But the word you hear is that they did what they wanted to do.

FRANCONA: They did kill a lot of people there.

CUOMO: How long do you keep doing this? Is this a phase or just what it is for the next dozens of months?

FRANCONA: Ideally, this would be a campaign that last 30, 45 days and prepare the ground operation. Unfortunately in Syria, we don't have that luxury. In Iraq we're going to have that. In Syria, it may be keeping up until we get some ground force that can get in there.

CUOMO: There's no question that the Free Syrian Army, the army has to be in quotes, "there's nothing going on there yet," they say they're vetting, training, who knows how long it will take. Do you have confidence that the Iraqi army, with coalition air support, can get it done?

FRANCONA: I do. I think once the Iraqi army gets its leadership problem taken care of. There are 26 brigades, I think the Iraqi army and the Peshmerga with American training, advice, and air support can do it in Iraq. Syria, another question.

CUOMO: Lieutenant-Colonel, thank you very much. A lot of news to you this morning. Let's get you right to John Berman in for Michaela -- John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks so much, Chris. President Obama shifting today from coalition building against ISIS to a potential global health disaster, talking about Ebola.

The president will focus on the virus at a speech at the United Nations later this morning. The Security Council passed a resolution last week urging Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia to speed up their response to the outbreak and called on all United Nations members to provide urgent help with field hospitals, staff and supplies.

The manhunt for the suspected killer of a Pennsylvania state trooper is now in its 13th day. Police say they have actually spotted Eric Frein multiple times from far away, but the densely wooded area where he is hiding has made it so difficult for officers to capture him, he dashes away. The 31-year-old Frein allegedly ambushed two troopers, killing one and critically wounding another.

Hundreds of Ferguson, Missouri residents packed a college meeting room speaking out to Justice Department officials about their experiences with police harassment in their town.

Several residents shared stories of how police target black voters or act aggressively toward black residents. Federal officials did not give a timetable for the completion of their investigation into the Ferguson Police Department following the fatal shooting of Michael Brown.

So Apple is pulling its IOS 8 update after reports of major issues with the software. Users were complaining they could not access cell service or the touch I.D. fingerprint sensor. It's unclear if the problem affects certain iPhone models or certain wireless carriers.

Also social media exploding with the reports of bent iPhone 6 models, saying that if you put it in your skinny jeans, Chris Cuomo, that the iPhone 6 might bend. It's being called bendgate on social media. Apple has not commented on this problem.

CUOMO: That is a clearly bent iPhone.

BERMAN: Of course, when you twist the phone like this. It may cause it to bend.

BALDWIN: Why does everything have to be a gate? Bendgate, Watergate, Bermangate?

CUOMO: We do have breaking news that we'll follow throughout the morning. It's not just what is happening in the air, it's what's happening on the ground. Nine men arrested in a terror dragnet in U.K. One a prominent cleric. It's all over the American media. You've probably seen him on TV.

And the threat of home-grown terror is ever present, which really keeping officials up at night. We are going to give you some insight ahead.

BALDWIN: Also breaking overnight, the suspect in the University of Virginia missing student case is apprehended in Texas. He is believed to be the last person to have seen Hannah Graham, the new developments from Charlottesville after the break.

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BALDWIN: Welcome back. You're watching NEW DAY.

Breaking news overnight: nine people were arrested in London on suspicion of terror offenses. British media reports that among them is this prominent radical cleric Anjem Choudary. It comes amid growing concern about deadly attacks on Western hostages abroad. That is in addition to this French hiker who is beheaded in Algeria

Wednesday by a terror group that supports ISIS as retaliation for French air strikes in Iraq.

And here at home, officials are on high alert over the possibility of so-called lone wolf attacks.

So lots to talk about here on this Thursday.

Let me bring in Clark Kent Irvin, former inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security. And Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a senior fellow for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Gentlemen, good morning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good morning, Brooke.

BALDIWN: OK. Let's begin with the latest news, the round-up of the suspects in London, including this radical preacher who we've actually seen on U.S. airwaves and some interesting interviews, we'll put it that way.

Clark. to you first and then Daveed. Just -- your reaction to this arrest this morning.

CLARK KENT ERVIN, FORMER INSPECTOR GENERAL, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY: Well, this raises the issue, Brooke, of countering violent extremism. There are these radical clerics, preachers who turn these vulnerable young men no ticking time bombs. There's a law in Britain that allows certain groups that incite violence to be prescribed, to be banned. And membership in that group is against the law. And so, against backdrop of the prime minister's announcing yesterday that parliament is being recalled to authorize air strikes by the British in Iraq, it's understandable that we're seeing the crackdown that we're seeing right now.

BALDWIN: Daveed, I see you nodding your head, yes? How do you agree?

DAVEED GARTENSTEIN-ROSS, FOUNDATION FOR DEFENSE OF DEMOCRACIES: Yes, I agree with Clark. I agree with Clark.

I think that the primary concern when they look at what's happening internationally, is that there will be retaliatory attacks carried out on behalf of ISIS. Choudary has been very outspoken, in support of ISIS. So, part of their concern is that someone like him, or he specifically, as a radicalizer for somebody carrying out some sort of strike, whether it's something mimicking what happened in Algeria, or something uniquely related to Britain. That is precisely what they're trying to stop.

BALDWIN: OK. Daveed, let me stay with you, because we heard yesterday at the U.N. General Assembly, from the French president, President Hollande, mentioning as we said, this Frenchman was killed over the weekend, or he had been hiking in Algeria. He was killed and he was actually beheaded by a group Jund al-Khilafah, or translated "soldiers of the caliphate". This isn't ISIS. They have pledged their allegiance, their support to al Baghdadi, the ISIS leader.

Who are they?

GARTENSTEIN-ROSS: Jund al-Khilafah used to be known as the al Qaeda in the Maghreb Center Zone. Before that actually, this group had been part of the armed Islamic group, during the Algerian civil war. The armed Islamic group was the most radical of the Algerian factions during that Syrian civil war. The reason I mentioned that is because the groups that tended to move away from al Qaeda and towards is are those that really don't accept al Qaeda's more strategic use of violence, instead like ISIS' very indiscriminate use of violence.

They actually had pledged to Baghdadi a long time ago. It was several months ago when they first pledged. They just took on the new name recently. The good news there is when you look at the brutal attack, it was something carried out by a group that had a preexisting infrastructure. It wasn't just a fly-by-night organization and that at least should make Westerners overseas feel a little bit more secure.

BALDWIN: OK. So, that may make them more secure. You have, though, these terror organizations and then, Clark, you have the threat of lone wolves, right? We know ISIS on Sunday released this audio basically calling on people to -- you know, kill, maim, hurt Westerners, Europeans.

And you know you think of these as we call them lone wolves, right? You think of the Tsarnaev brothers in Boston, you think of Major Nadal Hasan in Fort Hood, who have in some instances been quite successful.

You're surprised that there aren't more examples of these people.

ERVIN: Absolutely, because -- you know, if there's any good news about 9/11-style plots, post-9/11, is that they're very, very difficult, not impossible, but very difficult to carry out. Lone wolf attacks, someone just picking up someone randomly, shooting him, stabbing them, running over with a car, which is what ISIS has urged, it's very easy to do. We're talking about one person. The plot is in his head, so there aren't the opportunities to eavesdrop. There aren't the opportunities to foil the financing, there's not an opportunity to break up a conspiracy. It's very, very difficult to prevent.

The ultimate solution is countering this radical ideology and the president was right yesterday in his U.N. speech to call on the Muslim community to do more to counter this extremism in their own midst.

BALDWIN: How effective, staying with you, how effective do you think the unanimous resolution that was passed yesterday to stem the flow of these, you know, foreign fighters, how effective will that really be?

ERVIN: Well, time will tell, Brooke. As the president said, words are one thing, but what really count is deeds.

BALDWIN: Right. ERVIN: I think the good news here, though, is if the whole purpose of these beheadings has been to dissuade the United States in the West from going after is, I think it's having the opposite effect. The French are considering expanding their air strikes into Syria. We've already talked about what the British are going to do. The coalition expanded yesterday with the inclusion of the Belgians and the Dutch.

And so, I think the world community has been seized by this and the president is right to say the only language that ISIS understands is the language of force. And so, you have the United States, Western Europe and now critically, Muslim Sunni states joining the fight against ISIS. I think this will make the difference.

BALDWIN: So far, gentlemen, the fight has stayed in that part of the world, specifically Syria and Iraq. I mean, Daveed, what would you say to American who is would worry, especially now with the third wave of pretty intense air strikes, specifically in Syria, that these people from this part of the world, will not retaliate back home?

GARTENSTEIN-ROSS: Well, there's always concerns that when there's a military operation, that the kind of fallout could spread elsewhere.

But over the course of the past 13 years, when the U.S. and its allies have been engaged in the war on terror, there's always been the risk of blow-back and it's been pretty minimal. The reasons why our number one for group operations, that's where you have a chance to disrupt it based on good intelligence work and good law enforcement.

As to lone wolves, I agree with Clark, it's difficult to stop a lone wolf attacker. But I think one reason we tend to see so few lone wolf attacks, is because group dynamics help radicalization, people egging each other on. It's more difficult for one person to really amp themselves up for an attack.

BALDWIN: OK. Daveed Gartenstein-Ross and Clark Kent Ervin, thank you both very much for your time this morning here on NEW DAY. I really appreciate it.

And coming up, Bill and Hillary Clinton speaking out to CNN and weighing in on President Obama's strategy in this fight against ISIS, what did they tell us? We'll share that with you straight ahead.

Also ahead this major break in the case about missing University of Virginia student, Hannah Graham, we now know the suspect, the last person police believe was with Hannah before she vanished, is now in custody -- multiple states away. Those new details, next.

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BERMAN: A major break in the case of missing University of Virginia student, Hannah Graham.

Jesse Matthew, the only known suspect in Graham's disappearance, has been arrested in Texas. Now, police have been hot on Matthew's trail since Graham went missing nearly two weeks ago. He is believed to be the last person seen with her. CNN's Jean Casarez is live in Virginia with the latest this morning.

Good morning, Jean.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

Well, Jesse Matthew is now booked at the Galveston County jail, but this all came down yesterday at 3:30 in the afternoon. Jesse Matthew was found on the beach in Texas, in the Galveston, Texas area. What apparently happened was, deputy sheriffs got a call that there was someone suspicious in a tent camping on the beach. So, they went down there, they ran the license plate of the vehicle, they saw it was hot. That it was a wanted car.

And so, they moved in, they arrest him, he did not at all put up a fight when they were centering in on him. But they apparently were questioning him for hours, because I called the jail last night and he didn't get in until 8:00 local time. And they were continuing to question him at that point.

Now remember, this is a missing persons case. This is a case where they need to know 12 days ago, a young woman, a University of Virginia sophomore here went missing and they need to try to find her. And I'm sure that's what the questioning was about.

But at this point, now, it is all about extradition. Authorities right here in Virginia, law enforcement are flying to Texas first thing this morning. He should be in court today in the Galveston area.